


dreams from the cradle

by idolates



Category: Fate/Grand Order
Genre: Gen, summer kiara time :)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:07:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26094619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idolates/pseuds/idolates
Summary: A part of him still expects the Kiara he’s more familiar with to jump out. Sneering and laughing, pointing out his moment of weakness so he’ll snapback with vicious comments and derogatory terms, but that moment never comes. The Kiara before him is a child, the same child who was obsessed with his literary works like they were religious texts, the same child who doesn’t have any idea of what she becomes in the future, what they become.
Relationships: Hans Christian Andersen | Caster/Sessyoin Kiara
Comments: 3
Kudos: 40





	dreams from the cradle

**Author's Note:**

> wanted to write something to celebrate my two favs getting attention :) thanks fgo

Her small hands feel like frostburn on his wrists. Unbearably cold, so cold he temporarily thinks he’s on fire, that flames are scorching him alive- but it’s nothing but an icy chill consuming his body. Her fingers had grazed against one of his many deformities, his little ‘skin conditions’ that he hides from the world, but she went no further. Eyes big, full of curiosity, but still holding her hand to her chest meekly, like she touched something she shouldn’t have and she knows it.

  
  


“What’s wrong with your skin, mister?” She asks, rubbing her fingertips over the ruffles of her dress- trying to replace the sensation of cold, dead skin twisted into gills and scales with something else- anything else. Normally Andersen would bark out some insulting drivel at the offender, but for some reason he’s not angry at all. No, simply put he was sad.

  
  


“Atonement for being a monster.” An eerie somberness settles over him, like he figured out a decade long riddle, he cracked the code and said the magic words. A realization that despite the curses riddling him with pain and discomfort- it shouldn’t be anything to be ashamed of.

  
  


Or rather it shouldn’t be something he should feel compelled to hide, deny the existence of unless forced to confess. “My punishment for causing many people’s suffering with my writing.” The amount of rage he could feel over the concept that the only reason he’s cursed is because morons couldn’t parse his works well enough to understand the messages and morals, even when they’re written for  _ children _ ! 

A part of him still expects the Kiara he’s more familiar with to jump out. Sneering and laughing, pointing out his moment of weakness so he’ll snapback with vicious comments and derogatory terms, but that moment never comes. The Kiara before him is a child, the same child who was obsessed with his literary works like they were religious texts, the same child who doesn’t have  _ any _ idea of what she becomes in the future, what  _ they _ become.

  
  


“If you gave the little mermaid a happy ending, would this have still happened to you?” She asks, and Andersen remarks that despite the cow she ends up turning into, she’s a very bright child, easily able to comprehend his words and analyze them. It’s almost endearing, almost.

  
  


A bitter scoff, “Probably not.” He says. Knowing if he had just written traditional children’s fairy tales, so many people probably wouldn’t have damned him for eternity. Irony not above him as he faces the reality that the very people he wrote for: are the same people who despise him. 

  
  


“Why didn’t you give her a happy ending, then?” Kiara asks, and Andersen swears she  _ looks _ like she’s pitying him. His Kiara would call him foolish, a masochist purposely seeking retribution, but this child- she looks at him with eyes of sympathy. Had Kiara  _ ever _ stared at him with hatred? Like his very existence repulsed her?

  
  


Years of his life gone through with nobody asking questions- avoiding them with lack of care as to what he really thinks and feels. Yes, maybe that’s why he didn’t give the little mermaid a happy ending, maybe it was because his own life was so miserable it just seeped into his works. “I wanted kids who don’t have their own happy ending to relate to her.” He resists the urge to bite his nails as he thinks on how to explain his feelings in a way she can understand. “Unfortunately even if you’re completely innocent, and you always do what’s right, it doesn’t always work out.” It’s true, but it’s not the entirety of reasons why Andersen wouldn’t go back and change anything. The real reason..

Kiara’s somber as she stares ahead while Andersen’s explanation sinks in. Children without happy endings. Children like her. 

  
  


“But it’s also because I know someone important to me who loves the story.” He pats her head, letting his finger muss up her hair. Something he knows she’ll hate. A sign of affection that can’t exist anywhere else for them. A moment where Andersen can express himself freely. A dream from the cradle: one where they both have a chance at a happy ending.

**Author's Note:**

> https://idolates.tumblr.com/
> 
> requests | headcanons & imagines: OPEN!


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